Kate Hartman-Register Citizen
Winsted Selectman Candace Bouchard, Mayor Lisa Smith and Town Manager Dale Martin listen to the state Board of Education discuss Winchester schools during a meeting in Hartford in January.

HARTFORD >> The settlement reached between the town and local education board in Winchester was unanimously approved by the State Board of Education Wednesday morning. A state probe in early 2014 found that the town had improperly funded the education board—and by proxy—the schools in 2012-13. The town will now pay for that in the form of a million dollar plus payment schedule to the education board.

In December, according to Superintendent Thomas Danehy, the entire school district was looking at closing its doors. The town was still reeling from wounds inflicted by former Finance Director Henry Centrella, and those scars that have yet to fade. Centrella embezzled over two million dollars from the town and will likely be sentenced to eleven years in prison on Friday.

Short on cash, the town budgeted $18.3 million towards the school district during the 2012-13 fiscal year, adding funds from the 2013-14 fiscal year to cover spending. However, there is such a thing as a minimum budget requirement (MBR), which obliges towns to spend at least a certain amount on education: that number being just over $19.9 million. With the town not meeting this total, the superintendent and business manager Nadine Savage made a complaint to the state education board.

“The complaint alleged that the Winchester BOE had failed to implement the educational interests of the state by failing to comply with the minimum budget requirement,” Alan Taylor, Chair of the state education board said Wednesday when he outlined the prior events.

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From here, State Education Commission Stefan Pryor conducted an investigation into this complaint. The state board found reasonable cause that the Winchester BOE had failed to implement the educational interests of the state given that it was unable to meet the MBR.

A state panel was constructed to oversee the inquiry, which was to be held and completely within thirty business days. The deadline for this was set for February 21, with Winsted facing the possibility of an up to $50,000 fine from state at the end of that period. One way to circumvent this was for the town and local education board to reach a settlement.

The deadline was continued to a later date twice on the promise that both sides were close to terms. The agreement was reached on Feb 28, signed by Town Manager Dale Martin, Winchester Board of Education Chair Susan Hoffnagle and at a later date Commissioner Pryor. Based on this agreement, the state board of education was able to resolve the matter without a hearing.

“I think it was gratifying to the town that the [state] board and staff recognized the unique position that Winchester was in,” town attorney Kevin Nelligan said Wednesday. “This wasn’t something we chose to do. Due to criminal activities that will resolve on Friday, it is a position we were put in that we hope never to repeat again.”

The agreement includes a payment schedule where the town will allocate $1.3 million to the education board in July, $1.5 million in August and $1.75 million in September through May. A similar payment schedule, with monthly payments of $1.5 million was already in place, according to Martin.

Danehy also spoke to the state board on Wednesday.

“Your insistence that a town must honor its obligation to fund education, even if it is cash-strapped, kept our schools open last December,” he said. “This settlement agreement does not guarantee that there will be money next year for the schools but it does create realistic incentives for the town to find the dollars needed to run the schools and to provide those dollars when needed by the schools.”